The present invention relates to material handling equipment and more particularly to a feed mechanism for automatically feeding sheet steel or the like to a power brake or other similar metal forming equipment.
Heretofore, it has been the practice in the sheet steel forming industry to feed such sheets to power brakes and other forming machines by hand. Where the sheet was relatively long (i.e., in excess of three or four feet), this usually required that two men, one at each end of the sheet, feed the sheet into the press brake and remove it from the brake after bending was completed. As a result, the labor cost involved in utilizing two men was reflected in the cost of the final product. In addition, the fact that two workmen were involved in feeding the sheet steel to the brake increased the possibility of an accident occurring.
In view of the above, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a feed mechanism for such equipment which enables one workman to do the job that previously required two.